vaderios said:

Nice stuff there Ady!!!

Thanks for the action Sky_ :D!!!

Now take this too:)

Spot the continuity error and fix it :P Im out of here

-Angel

I hope Ady takes this into consideration: that first shot (or second in this case) when the probot first comes out always looked really fake, and the flames in this case could hide the fakiness a little better - though I could see the flames dying out as the shot progressed or being toned down a little.

Overall, everything about this mock-up is better: I love how you can see the hill behind the flames; how the mountains stand out from the sky; even the HAL eye I think works really well and would give it some life (not to mention a droidish connection to R2). For that matter, how would the probot look to have a few more lights on it ala R2 (I know it is for infiltration and all, but anything to give it some life and take it away from looking like a model could be good).

EDIT - okay, I can see the flames going, per Ady's response above. I still vote for the red R2 eye and the overall shot (minus flames) for the close-up. Anything to give the probot droid any more texture to get it away from looking like a 12 inch tall model would be fantastic! You know, maybe instead of flames if there can be smoke coming out the crater to help obscure the close-up probot droid coming out the crater (and help obscure the modeliness).. at least it would conform to the following shot showing smoke coming out of the crater as well...

In fact, that could be a cool way to reveal it: plenty of smoke coming out and all we can see when it first rises is the silhouette and the red eye activating; then we see the farther back shot of it coming out of the column of smoke (maybe making a trail the way helicopters do when they go through smoke).

How would it be to add a slight audio echo to the levitation noises it makes to excentuate the open air environment it is in when leaving the crater? You know, don't forget the audio things you can do for enhancement too!